


Electricity

by mantlesprotector



Category: RWBY
Genre: Dancing, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, I love them so much, Mechanical Rose, Nuts and Dolts - Freeform, Oneshot, RWBY - Freeform, one chapter, she/her and they/them pronouns for ruby rose, she/they ruby rose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:20:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29389722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mantlesprotector/pseuds/mantlesprotector
Summary: “Please be more careful, Ruby!”Ruby stopped as the world around her kept moving. Ruby turned and the world stopped with her as well.Out of all the possibilities that could’ve come true tonight, she definitely wasn't expecting themselves to end up getting dipped by Penny.
Relationships: Penny Polendina/Ruby Rose
Kudos: 29





	Electricity

It was a simple interaction, really. Penny noticed something about the way Ruby presented herself today seemed... off. It definitely wasn't something that was noticeable at first glance. Penny herself probably wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't been staring at her... for whatever reason that would've been. The question swarmed through every decision she felt herself make, why was she so keen on spending so much time with Ruby?

It was the more subtle things that set her off from her truly happy demeanour; their shoulders slightly dragging lower and lower with each step she took, the quick pauses before she began to form another sentence, her silver eyes filling the silence of the room as they stared into the image of her flooding thoughts. Ruby could feel the weight on their shoulders sinking her down to the ground, and Penny could notice it too.

Of course, Penny wasn't going to let herself simply stand there and not attempt to fix the situation. Ruby was her closest friend after all, wasn't she? The one who told her that despite everything there is to know about herself, that she was just as human as the rest? The person who occupied most of her time, who never left her side after everything she had been through?

So, she did what one respectable person had to do.

"Salutations, Ruby!" Without looking, Ruby was instantly able to tell the voice who spoke to her was Penny. Her greetings always sounded the same, but there was something about her cheerful tone of voice that never seemed to wear out in Ruby’s mind.

Ruby would've taken themselves a much longer period to respond, but swiftly caught herself in the act. She turned around to face Penny, waving with their left hand. "Hey, Penny!" What answered was a hollow voice surrounded by the sweet fallacy of cheerfulness.

Penny’s eyes speedily scanned the room around her, the number of people in the room unnerving her. It wasn't that she hated the teams, what reason was there for that? She simply wished she could be alone with Ruby for just this one instance. She leaned towards Ruby. "Would you like to get some fresh air?"

Ruby nodded, slowly starting to lift herself off of the chair she was sitting on. “Uuuuh, yeah! Are you feeling okay?”

Penny wanted to stare at the person in front of her in disbelief. Of course it wasn't for her own sake. Penny knew that and Ruby, out of all people, definitely knew too. Battling her conflicting thoughts, she kept her composure. Staying in place, hands behind her back, a voice without much strain or effort, just as she usually would. "I wanted to talk with you for a moment, Ruby." 

_She knows_ , Ruby thought. Of course she knew, why wouldn't she? The sweet girl who filled most of her spare time up by accompanying Ruby was surely going to notice, and there was no way around it anymore.

“Oh, sure! Is it about anything bad?” While Ruby carried the conversation, the two steadily walked to the exit. With one arm, Penny opened the door, letting Ruby make her way out first. Once she exited the room, Penny followed soon after, closing the door behind her shut.

Penny shrugged. “I do not know the answer for that.”

Ruby's eyes widened, fingers fidgeting behind her back. "Oh, well," Ruby chuckled, swinging her right arm. "I guess we'll have to see about that!"

\--

The two continued their way outside of the room in mutual silence. They passed a couple of long corridors along their way, the quick glances the two exchanged at each other becoming glaringly more obvious each time. Silence rang louder than words in the neverending corridors, an unsettling feeling filling the atoms of the air. 

"Here." Penny's words medicated the atmosphere, halting in her position. 

"Huh? You wanna stop here?" Ruby turned around.

She nodded. "I believe that would be okay. We’re far enough from everyone else.”

“Oh, haha, right!” Ruby chuckled raspily, walking closer to Penny. The two stood to face each other, the dim rose-coloured lights showering the two with a sense of relaxation.

“Sooo, what did you want to ask me?”

Penny inhaled, clasping her hands together. Her shoulders sunk and it was easy to tell she had been keeping a calm demeanour for the time being. “Are you okay?”

“Huh? I mean, I guess so… What’s up with you?”

Penny shook her head. “This isn’t about me, Ruby. You’re acting strange.”

Ruby sighed. "It's... It's just stress."

"Just stress...?" Penny's eyebrows furrowed as she unclasped her hands. "You know I'm free if you would like to talk to me about these things." Her voice was calm, but a singe of concern still flowed through the sentence nonetheless.

Ruby waved their hand around in the air, keeping her eyes focused to her left. Her legs moved her body to the wall, sliding herself down until they were sitting. "I...I know that. I just don't really think it's that important to bother you personally about it-"

"It doesn't bother me." Penny shook her head, stepping closer to her.

"I just..." Ruby sighed, sagging her shoulders down low. "I guess I could talk about it, but... I don't think that would solve anything. I know that even if I did, I'd just... still feel anxious."

Penny sat with the fact for a moment. "...Would you like to do something instead?" Penny suggested. If she wasn't able to comfort them, she might as well distract her. "I would like for you to talk to me, but I don't want to force you."

Ruby sighed. They wished she talked about her feelings more often, but doing so now wouldn't help. This situation wouldn't be able to be fixed with a conversation. All she needed was something to do, something to preoccupy their mind before she went back to work.

"What do you usually like to do when you feel like this? I don't want to something that won't make you feel happy." The question was simple, but there was a problem; what did Ruby even do when she felt bad?

"I, uh... never really thought about that, to be honest..." Ruby shrugged her shoulders. "What do you like to do when you feel like this?"

"Hmmm..." Penny pondered for a moment. _What did she like to do at a time such as this?_ There were many things she knew that brought her joy in her life, but to calm herself down? Sure, there was helping the citizens of Mantle, talking to Ruby whenever she could, sometimes dancing…

…

Dancing. 

"I like to dance!"

"When you're stressed?" Ruby cocked her head to the side, raising an eyebrow with curious eyes. 

Penny nodded in response. "Absolutely!"

"Well…" Ruby rubbed the back of her neck with their left hand, their eyes glaring to the side of the room. "I wouldn't say I'm exactly the best at that, haha, you know…" She gestured by waving her hand around. Their voice shuddered through the sentence, eyes being glued to the floor. How shy.

"That's okay!" Penny's voice chirped in, slicing Ruby's doubting thoughts in half. She was always comforting to Ruby, even if she wasn't trying to be.

Ruby turned to her with wide eyes and an eyebrow turned down. "Really? I mean, are you sure? I don't really want to hurt you or anything..."

Penny nodded. "I assure you that everything is alright with me! Accidents or missteps included." She extended her right hand outwards, tilting her body slightly lower to the ground.

A smirk crept onto her lips. "Shall we?"

_Yeah. Ruby surely liked her a lot more than she thought she originally did._

After the click of a scroll and a nod, Ruby extended her hand out to meet Penny's. Penny's fingers intertwined with Ruby's, pulling her closer to herself as the music started to play. Ruby almost stumbled with such a small interaction, the feeling of wanting to simply evaporate encapsulating her every thought. Due to the nature of their state, the most she could do was lightly chuckle away the situation and hope* that Penny didn’t catch on to her clumsiness.

*Keyword: Hope.

  
  


And so, they began.

What an ethereal feeling, to be dancing with the girl whom she cherished the most. Electricity ran through the veins of her arms, the room washed away like a watercolour painting. The wind carried her legs through the air, when did they suddenly get so good at dancing? The sole focus in the blur of a room was Penny, and Penny only. Penny surely didn’t notice the red splattered on Ruby’s cheeks, didn’t she?

“You said you weren’t good at dancing.”

“I-I thought I wasn’t!”

Penny giggled in response, her grip on Ruby’s hands unconsciously getting tighter. Is this what it felt like to be “human”? Was this the message Ruby was trying to tell, all the way back in the empty alleyway of Beacon Academy? She felt... No, _knew_ , that this is exactly where she needed to be at this moment. Every movement she performed, every step she took, every leap she leapt felt natural in the presence of the person she was right now.

Everything was going smoothly.

Until it wasn’t.

You see, Ruby thought she was a good dancer for two minutes or so. She was quickly brought back to her senses when she tripped over her own leg, her body planning to fall face-first into the ground. Yup, that feeling was definitely too good to be true.

“What the-” They stumbled over, her eyes widening at the realization that they were falling. A scream escaped her mouth, their hands flailing around as she tried to grab onto the nearest object or person possible to avoid breaking every bone that constructed their face. _I’m gonna fall, I’m gonna fall, I’m gonna-_

…

“Please be more careful, Ruby!”

Ruby stopped as the world around her kept moving. Ruby turned and the world stopped with her as well. 

Out of all the possibilities that could’ve come true tonight, she definitely wasn't expecting themselves to end up getting dipped by Penny.

“Are you okay, Ruby?“ Penny stopped the flood of thoughts rushing in Ruby’s mind. It was hard to tell whether Penny was oblivious to the fact that she technically just _dipped_ Ruby, or if she was completely aware and decided not to show her panic for whatever reason. Penny picked Ruby up from the dip position, letting them stand to regain her thoughts.

Her thoughts? Ruby's thoughts were fucking _racing_. If Penny couldn't notice the way her cheeks were stained with roses, she sure could've now. Was Ruby thrown on a Ferris wheel? Hell, it sure looked like it right now.

"Ruby!" The cheerful voice snapped Ruby out of her swarming thoughts, and Ruby could only focus on Penny. "Are you alright? You almost fell, but I managed to catch you!" She kept her hands behind her back, taking a step closer to them.

Ruby nodded quickly, not sure where to keep her eyes fixated on. "Yup, yup, you sure did!"

The hallway flooded with a strange sense of silence afterwards. Ruby knew that she should've said more, but their dazed state did not let her. Penny leaned in, trying to get a good look at Ruby’s face from up close. After a moment, her eyes quickly widened and a petite gasp was heard.

"Huh-"

Panic. "Oh, did I- Did I embarrass you?" Penny's voice emitted genuine concern, rushing over to Ruby and grabbing her arms. "I'm sorry, I don't know if that was awkward or not, I didn't even realize that might've-"

Ruby looked at the girl with confusion, only being able to laugh with a snort. She couldn't believe how adorable the girl in front of them was. "Penny, it's okay! I'm fine. Nobody is hurt." They grabbed onto Penny with reassuring hands, a smile plastered on her face.

"Are you- Are you sure?"

Ruby nodded. "I'm sure, Penny. I uh... I thought that was pretty cool, actually!" She wasn't kidding. That dip was _so fucking cool_.

Penny looked at Ruby in awe, disbelief placed into her mind. The only way she could express the emotions that wanted to burst out of her body was to engulf Ruby in a hug. "I think that you're pretty cool as well!" She tried to match Ruby's words while keeping her thoughts sincere, hoping that this meant that they were able to relate more easily.

The two hugged for a while, letting themselves calm down in the embrace of one another. It felt right, and neither wanted to let go. They wished they were able to do this more often, but time was running short and the clock was ticking.

Penny glanced at the ticking clock on the wall. She secretly wanted to frown, wishing that the moments between the two didn't have to end so abruptly. "...I believe we should head back now, I only intended to take you out for a few minutes." If only they could stay for longer; Penny ended the hug with a sense of longing, like the time between the two wasn't enough.

Ruby dusted her pants. "Then I guess that's what we have to do."

Penny stalled, even if it was only for a few more seconds. "...More importantly! Do you feel calmer now?"

Ruby nodded. "I sure do."

"Then I have done what I needed to do correctly!" She grinned with a sense of pride; if Ruby was happy, she was happy too.

Ruby looked around the empty hallway, sneaking up on Penny. They tapped Penny's left arm. "Hey."

"Huh?"

If there was one way to end this all off... "Tag, you're it!" ...it's by playing a game of tag.

"Hey, wait-" Before she could finish her sentence, Ruby took off running with visible giggles that echoed in the hallway. Of course Ruby would end this off with _tag_ out of all things, that's just the kind of person she always was.

She let Ruby run for a moment. She let herself take in her thoughts. She never knew what they were before, but she did now.

With the boost of her rockets after Ruby and the left-over maroon petals that showered the floor, Penny knew there was no one more that she loved than them.

**Author's Note:**

> hi i hope people liked this LOL, i haven't written in... a while. i'm mostly active on twitter so you can follow me @mantleprotector. i mostly post rwby, penny polendina and shitpost spam.
> 
> anyway i hope this was good because my mind is telling me that it is very messy
> 
> also i was imagining line without a hook by ricky montgomery playing during the dance scene so imagine that as you will


End file.
